Early Life

Beth Tweddle was born on April 1st 1985 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

At an early age Beth's family moved to England and she now lives in Bunbury and trains in the Park Road gym in Liverpool, where she is coached by Amanda Kirby.

Gymnastic Career

Beth Tweddle has raised the performance levels and standards of British gymnasts: she was the first British woman to win medals at World level (Bronze in Anaheim 2003 and in Melbourne 2005) and at European level, including in 2006 winning gold on the Asymmetric Bars.

Better still, Beth Tweddle won gold on the uneven bars at the 2006 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The first ever world title for a British gymnast.

The A-Bars are Beth Tweddle's best event, but she is an all-rounder, who has been British All-around Champion (2001-2005).

The five consecutive national titles equalled the record set by Margaret Bell between 1966 and 1970.

Her 2005 performance included golds in the asymmetric bars, vault, beam and floor as well as the overall title.

Beth told Gymnstands:

"I have learnt a few things from gymnastics, the main thing is if you have your heart set on something then go for it, anything is possible."

Beth Tweddle came third in the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

In November 2007, Beth Tweddle won gold on the floor at the Glasgow Grand Prix. In April 2008, Beth Tweddle won silver in the floor exercise at the women's European Championships but narrowly missed out on the medals, coming fourth, in the uneven bars.

In the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Tweddle overcame a rib injury to finish fourth in the uneven bars.

In April 2009, Beth Tweddle won two golds for Britain at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, winning the floor and asymmetric bars competitions.

In October 2009, Beth Tweddle won gold in the floor event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

On 31 December 2009, she was appointed an MBE in the New Year's Honours list.

In October 2010 in Rotterdam Beth Tweddle regained the uneven bars world title.

In April 2011, Beth Tweddle retained her European uneven bars title.

In the London Olympics Games in August 2012, Beth Tweddle took bronze in the uneven bars.

Dancing On Ice

In 2013, she was paired with Dan Whiston on Dancing on Ice. They went on to win.

In August 2013, she announced her retirement from gymnastics.

Beth Tweddle was selected to be one of the all-stars to appear in the final series of Dancing on Ice in 2014. This time she was paired with Lukasz Rozycki. They came third.

The Jump

In 2016, Beth Tweddle became one of the celebrities on the Channel Four show, The Jump.

Before The Jump, she said:

"I’m competitive against myself. I get really frustrated if I can’t do something so I’m constantly trying to go one better but not necessarily with other people."

Unfortunately, Beth Tweddle broke her neck whilst training for The Jump and had to retire from the show.

She needed surgery to fuse fractured vertebrae in her neck.

On 13 February 2016, it was revealed that she started walking by herself.

In April 2016, she had recovered sufficiently to make an appearance at the 2016 British Gymnastics Championships.

In June 2016, Beth Tweddle told the BBC's The One Show that she was seeing a psychologist to help her recover from her injuries on The Jump.